The Art of Making Scented Candles - 4 Steps to Aromatic Beauty
admin | November 27, 2009
Aromatic candles heighten the ambience of any room in the house. If you are a romantic kind of person, you’ll appreciate the aroma of these scented wax masterpieces. You and your guests will be treated to a sense of calm and well being. As you will appreciate, the flickering glow of any candle heightens the elegance of a room.
The subtle fragrance of scented candles will pep you up, even while the candle is unlit. When you arrive home tired and worn out from the day, the aroma & warm glow of a scented candle tends to loosen your tightness & lift your energy level.
Aromatic candles serve as wonderful gifts for all occasions and every season, and they are particularily meaningful when crafted by your own hands.
1. Choose Your {Fragrance For Candle Making}
Fragrance oil is available in most craft shops. You can also look for it on the internet. I suggest that you opt for fragrance oils rather the cheaper alcohol and water based fragrances. Because your wax mix is oil based, your fragrance must also be oil based. Why? Oil and water do not mix so a water based perfume will not mix properly with the oil based wax.
2. Select Your Wax
The basics of {scented candle making} are more or less the same as for ordinary wax candles. Begin by choosing your wax type. These days the market offers a versatile range of wax, starting from natural waxes made from beeswax, palm or soy and on to gel or paraffin wax. You’ll want to decide on the aromatic intensity for your candles before choosing your wax. For instance, wax with less density holds less fragrance than higher density wax.
3. The Art of Making Aromatic Candles
Now that we’ve covered wax selection, let’s talk about the process of creating scented candles.
The first task is to melt your wax. I recommend using a double boiler. Which means put the wax in a small pot. Then put that container inside a slightly larger pot containing water. Next step - heat the water. Use a thermometer so as not to burn the wax. Maintain the temperature at a constant 170-180 degrees F.
Once the wax has melted, put a wick in the mold and remove your wax from the source of heat. Now add the fragrance oil that you have chosen. A mixture of 1 ounce fragrance oil to 1 pound wax will produce a fragrance that permeates your candle up to 6% of its density. Greater amounts of fragrance oil will cause the candle to burn out quicker.
Now pour your melted wax/fragrance mix into it’s mold. The only job remaining is to let it cool before removing your candle from it’s mold.
Congratulations on a job well done!
4. Try Different Things as You Go
You will gain great expertise in all phases of candle making once you start experimenting. By using different fragrances and colors, you will perfect the art of candle making and thoroughly enjoy the process.
It’s a great feeling to award your friends with a {homemade scented candle} knowing that they will find the fragrance both relaxing and invigorating.
